Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Rubenza’
Like so many of you, Cosmos is one of my favorite flowers. I’ve grown so many different kinds over the years always searching for a variety I love the most. While I have loved them all, none of them really stood out above the rest (although the ones seen in this post came close.) That was until last year when I grew ‘Rubenza’ for the first time.
You might be looking at these photos and thinking, “What’s so special about it? It looks like a red flower.” I agree, it does, and I take part of the blame because these photos are not the best; they were hurriedly taken as we were packing up our house to move and my mind was on other things. You’ll really have to take my word for it and see ‘Rubenza’ in person so you can appreciate how the petals start off in the richest shade of pomegranate and then, as they decay, they take on a sophisticated, smokey, faded mauve tone. Seen all at once, the effect is startlingly pretty.
Even though I did save a few seeds I wasn’t taking any chances they would be duds so I ordered a fresh packet for next year. That’s literally never happened with Cosmos flowers I always just pick something new to try. So trust me, that says a lot for how much I like this one! I also bought seeds of ‘Rubinato‘ which seems to be a more compact form of ‘Rubenza‘ and ‘Velouette‘, the stripes of which reminding me of pleating on a satin gown.
Our garden in North Carolina taught me a bit about the benefit of using saturated colors as the southern sunlight there was so bright, pale colors appeared lifeless and washed out. Pastel flowers simply disappeared in the landscape but not so with ‘Rubenza’, whose flowers held their own in the harsh afternoon glare, glittering like bright garnets amongst the ferny foliage. If you haven’t tried this one yet, may I humbly suggest you give them a whirl and let me know what you think?
PS: For tips on how to grow Cosmos, check out this post. They’re one of the easiest and rewarding annuals to grow!
If I save seeds from my cosmos flowers will they come true to each variety? I would even use blossom bags to make sure there isn’t cross-pollination, if that would make it work! I spent sooo much on seeds this year and I’m looking for a chance to save some money next year since I’ve got such a good stock now, haha!
That’s a great question! I suppose if you have lots of varieties of Cosmos cross pollinating then you could potentially end up with something unique with the next generation of seeds…but that might also be kinda neat! I usually only grow a few different kinds during any one season and I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything too unusual pop up in subsequent generations. (I vaguely remember one time I had some Cosmos seedlings that had more curvy petals than the parent flowers…) You might like to read this post I came across earlier from another gardener and her method for saving Cosmos seeds. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this one – I’m going to try it! I haven’t grown this one before and I’m looking for some saturated counterpoints to the pastels in my garden. I also have my eye on the double-click cranberry cosmos- have you tried those? Thanks as always for great information and hope you all are settling into your new place!
Hi Cole! I think you’ll really like Rubenza. I have tried the double clicks (and I really liked them) but they were the pink colors. I might try the cranberry color someday, too!
Hi Cole, I have grown ‘Double Click Cranberries’ twice and I really liked the flowers but it wasn’t the most floriferous Cosmos, compared to say ‘Xanthos’, ‘Purity’ or ‘Dazzler’. It did take a beautiful photo though, and was great for gazing!
Thank you for sharing this experience, Ali!
I agree with you about the effect of light in the south on pastel flowers. If I am planting for high summer I usually avoid pale colors. (Spring light is different.). It’s interesting that books on designing gardens in the south rarely take this into consideration.
It’s definitely not something I ever thought about until I moved to the south. Thank you for taking the time to comment! 🙂